An official complaint has been made to Bermuda Bar Association about a lawyer who claimed a 14-year-old girl made pregnant by a 27-year-old man may have enjoyed ?one of the most pleasurable experiences of her life?.

Penny Dill, executive director of the Women?s Resource Centre, has filed the grievance against Larry Scott whose comment she claimed was ?as shocking as it is irrelevant?.

Mr. Scott was reprimanded by a Supreme Court judge after making the remark last month while defending Andwele White, who was jailed for three years after admitting unlawful carnal knowledge with the girl. She had an abortion.

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Scott told he advocated lowering the age of sexual consent from 16 to under 14.

In a letter to the Bar Association, Ms Dill wrote: ?We are amazed that Mr. Scott would not understand the ramifications of his remarks, which only serve to legitimise sexual exploitation of girls and women.

?In court cases dealing with unlawful carnal knowledge it is becoming acceptable to view these incidents as the fault of the young person.

?The remarks made by Mr. Scott contribute to this disturbing trend and make our difficult job ? as an organisation that supports victims and seeks protection for women ? even harder.

?Bermuda is not best served by lawyers who advocate the exploitation of young people in their comments to the Press.?

She said: ?We wanted to make a formal complaint rather than just going to the Press. Lawyers must have standards that they have to comply with. They have an ethical responsibility, I would have thought, as well.

?We want something to be done. I feel that he should maybe offer an apology or be asked as to why he made the comments.?

Robin Mayor, president of Bermuda Bar Association, said the association?s governing body, the Bermuda Bar Council, would consider the complaint at its next meeting.

If the council considers Mr. Scott?s comments to be a breach of the association?s code of ethics the complaint will be passed to its professional conduct committee.

Mrs. Mayor said the committee?s findings would only be made public if it decided on a ?very severe punishment? such as disbarment. She said: ?The process is confidential. ?

Mr. Scott would not comment on whether he would apologise but he said he was not at all worried about the complaint.

?If a complaint is being made, we?ll see what happens,? he said. ?Let?s see what the Bar Council has to say and we?ll go from there.?

He added that his comments ?engendered discussion on a topic which is vitally important to Bermuda?.